Wrongful refusal of a required certificate cannot defeat a consequential policy benefit when the application follows prompt issuance.

Entitlement to a blanket import permit under the Import-Export Policy depended on export performance in the relevant year and possession of an export house certificate. The certificate had been wrongfully refused by the licensing authority and was issued only after judicial intervention; the application for the permit was then made promptly. That delay could not defeat the policy benefit, because it resulted from the earlier wrongful refusal and not from any fault of the applicant. The authority administering exchange control could not rely on the prior wrongful refusal to deny the consequential benefit flowing from the same policy framework.

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Issues: Whether the respondents were entitled to a blanket permit under Paragraph 179 read with Appendix 28 of the Import-Export Policy for the period AM 1978-79, despite the application having been made only after the export house certificate was ultimately issued.

Analysis: The entitlement to the blanket permit arose from the export performance in the relevant financial year and was dependent upon possession of the export house certificate. The certificate was initially refused on an unsustainable ground and was issued only after judicial intervention. The respondents applied for the blanket permit promptly after obtaining the certificate. The delay was thus the result of the wrongful refusal by the licensing authority and could not be used to defeat the benefit under the policy. The reserve bank authority could not rely on that earlier wrongful refusal to deny the consequential exchange control benefit flowing from the same policy.

Conclusion: The respondents were entitled to the blanket permit, and the rejection of their request was unsustainable.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a policy benefit is contingent upon a certificate wrongfully withheld by another competent authority, the beneficiary cannot be denied the consequential relief merely because the application was made after the certificate was eventually issued.

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